This invention relates to a glove for use with a baseball and softball bat or other similar implement that is used in a two-handed swing by a baseball or softball batter or other such user.
Gloves of one type or another have long been used by baseball and softball batters to improve their grips and also to protect their hands against chafing and against injury from impact. An example of a glove designed for use by a baseball batter is given in U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,405, entitled "Baseball Glove." In the '405 patent, a pair of gloves includes means for linking the fingers together for increased gripping efficiency and also means for increasing the gripping area and for cushioning against shock. In addition, the right-hand glove includes means for adjustably linking the thumb and adjacent fingers to effect further improvement. In this patent, the description is provided in terms of a right-handed batter. Thus, the left hand of the batter, which is closer to the grip end of the bat, is what will be referred to here as the lower hand, and the right hand is what will be referred to here as the upper hand. The '405 patent provides increased gripping surfaces for the upper hand but does not affect the relation of the upper hand to the bat.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,557, entitled "Athletic Glove," is a glove for the lower hand of a baseball batter that includes a pad overlying the second phalange of each of the third and fourth fingers of the players to increase the force which the third and fourth fingers can apply to a bat. It is not intended for the upper hand.
An example of a device that has been designed for use by a baseball batter is given in U.S. Pat. No. 4,461,043, listed on a rubber ring sold under the trademark "Direct Protect." This patent teaches a device to be worn to protect the thumb of a batter. A somewhat similar protector for the hand when fielding a baseball is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,478,690, listed on a device sold under the trademark "Palm Guard." Neither of the latter two patents teaches a means for keeping a bat in a proper position for use.
The patents referred to above indicate a common feature of most gloves that are currently used to assist batters and other users of swinging implements. This is the fact that they are designed primarily for the lower hand. The lower hand is thought of as the control hand, the one that controls the direction and placement of the fat part of a bat or the like. The upper hand, in contrast, is the power hand, the one that applies most of the power to the bat. Thus, the right hand is the power hand of a right-handed batter because it is typically on the stronger arm. The gripping portion of the lower hand is generally protected by a glove against chafing caused by the turning of the bat or other such swinging implement, and against further chafing and impact injury from the knob at the end of the bat. The gripping portion of the hand is defined here as the palm and the palm sides of the fingers and thumbs. With respect to the upper hand of a batter, the patents that deal with gloves for use with it appear to be concerned more with increasing the power of the grip and of padding the hand against impact and chafing than they are with promoting an improved grip. Gloves for use with both the upper and lower hands of batters also protect the gripping portions of the hands against irritation by pine tar, rosin, or other substances used to improve the grip.
An example of a batting glove that is designed to assist in placement of the bat in the hands of a batter is a glove sold under the name trademark GRIP TEC by Saranac Glove Company, Green Bay, Wis. This glove has areas of a surface that is treated to stay tacky to keep the hands in a position that is once assumed in gripping the bat. It appears that the GRIP TEC glove might assist in maintaining a proper position of a bat once that position is assumed but it would not prevent a user from putting a bat in an improper position.
The object of using a bat or similar swinging implement is to transfer energy from a user to an object such as a ball. The user would normally prefer to move a bat so that it has maximum velocity when it hits the ball. Maximum velocity is achieved most effectively by maximum wrist action of the upper hand. There is comparatively less wrist movement of the lower hand, which guides the bat. Referring especially to a baseball bat, for example, bat speed is generated best when the wrist of the upper hand is free to move. This occurs when the bat lies across the part of the palm that is closer to the bases of the fingers of the upper hand than to the vee of the thumb. A commonly observed improper grip on a bat puts the bat relatively deep in the vee of the thumb, which inhibits wrist movement and also tends to bruise the thumb when the user hits the ball. The vee of the thumb is defined here as the space between the thumb and the edge of the palm of the hand that is closest to the thumb. If a batter holds a bat in the vee of the thumb, the wrist tends to become tense, which restricts the flexibility of the swing and reduces the batter's control of the bat.
The considerations described above are important in a good swing, which is described as getting the fat part of the bat on the ball. This is essentially placing the center of percussion of the bat-batter combination on a line through the center of the ball, transferring maximum energy from the batter and the bat to the ball. A good swing reduces the velocity of the bat on collision with the ball to correspond to the amount of energy transfer to the ball, but does not transfer any of the energy of the bat or ball into torque or axial force on the hands of the batter.
Most swings are not good swings. In baseball or softball, a pitcher puts a considerable amount of effort into trying to make the sweet spot miss the ball by pitching the ball at different speeds and by causing it to curve, rise, drop, or the like. When this happens, part of the energy of the bat, the ball, or both is turned into a torque which transfers an impact to the hands of the batter. More simply, foul tips sting. If, in addition to fouling a pitch, a batter has placed the bat deep in the vee of his thumb, that impact may lead to pain and bruises, in addition to tensing the wrist and inhibiting the swing.